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When She Loved Me
"When She Loved Me" is a song written by Randy Newman for Pixar's animated film Toy Story 2 (1999), recorded by Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan. The song reveals the backstory of Jessie, a toy cowgirl, as she reflects upon her now-defunct relationship with her original owner, by whom she was outgrown. Heard in the film during a flashback sequence, the filmmakers decided to incorporate a song into the montage during which Jessie details her backstory to Woody after multiple attempts to show the character explaining her traumatic experience verbally proved unsuccessful. Newman initially felt that the song was not suitable for the film because he doubted that children would be interested in listening to it. The song was offered to McLachlan after Newman and the filmmakers agreed that the ballad would be more appropriate for a female artist. Despite some hesitation from her management, McLachlan greatly enjoyed the ballad and agreed to record it upon hearing Newman's demo, finding herself drawn towards its melancholy nature. Musically, "When She Loved Me" is an emotional pop ballad backed by simple piano accompaniment. Various interpretations about the song's lyrics and themes have been offered; while "When She Loved Me" is primarily about the pain felt upon losing a platonic friend, it has also been interpreted as a love song, while some music journalists consider the song to be a metaphor for children inevitably growing up and becoming more independent from their parents. "When She Loved Me" has garnered positive reviews from film and music critics, who found the song to be both moving and heartbreaking, praising Newman's songwriting and McLachlan's vocal performance. "When She Loved Me" won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was nominated for Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Original Song but lost both to "You'll Be in My Heart" from Disney's animated film Tarzan (1999). "When She Loved Me" has since earned a reputation as one of the saddest sequences in both Pixar and Disney films, as well as one of the saddest film songs ever written. The song has been covered by several recording artists, including Steve Tyrell, Bridgit Mendler and the musical group Steps. Writing and recording Beginning with Toy Story (1995), director John Lasseter had long decided that the ''Toy Story'' films would not be musicals in which the characters spontaneously perform songs but agreed that musician Randy Newman would write original songs about certain "moments in the story", most of which he would sing himself. Originally, the filmmakers had considered having Jessie, a toy cowgirl, simply explain her backstory verbally; this concept was re-visited several times until the idea of re-working her thoughts into a song called "When She Loved Me" was suggested. Lasseter identified the addition of "When She Loved Me" as the most significant change made to the film during production. Newman originally doubted that "When She Loved Me" would work, initially thinking that the filmmakers were mistaken by incorporating it into the film, due to the song essentially being about the difference between feeling loved and unloved. The songwriter called the ballad a risk due to the studio's history of fearing slowing down films too much and losing the audience's interest in the process. Newman continued to doubt that children would be able to sit through the song until he observed their behavior during an initial screening. The songwriter was ultimately surprised to find that even the youngest children in the audience actually remained attentive during the song despite its slow tempo and mature, emotional themes. Newman joked that the song was not "the first time Pixar knew better than I did", explaining, "I wrote something that must have worked or the kids would have been running up the aisle." Lasseter admitted that he is most proud of the way in which "When She Loved Me" was used in the film. Alongside "Woody's Roundup", "When She Loved Me" was one of two new songs Newman wrote for the film. Originally entitled "Jessie's Song", Newman's demo is shorter in length and features lyrics that differ slightly from the final film version. Newman considers "When She Loved Me" to be among his favorite film compositions, and found the film assignment easier than writing music for standard music albums because the filmmakers were "clear what they want to have said", as opposed to "pulling something out of the air". Pixar explained to Newman that his assignment involved writing a song "about Jessie's life and her disappointment with her relationship with her owner, and they grew up", with the songwriter knowing only the length required for the song and that it was expected to be sung by a female at that time. Although Newman maintains that the song is almost exclusively about the relationship between a doll and her estranged owner, he admitted that "Inevitably some of my own experience seeps in there." Unlike the songs he had written for Toy Story, Newman does not sing "When She Loved Me" himself; after writing it, the filmmakers insisted that the ballad be performed by a female singer, a decision by which the songwriter was not offended, and recruited Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, of whom Lasseter had been "a tremendous fan". Newman compared writing for a singing voice like McLachlan's as opposed to himself to "writing for a different instrument", explaining, "I have a blues-oriented voice ... She has a different kind of contralto, or whatever the hell she has. Soprano. It's a voice that can hold notes, so I can write with that in mind." Still a relatively new artist at the time, McLachlan claims that, when she was first sent the song, her management warned her that she might not like it. However, she ultimately began crying almost immediately upon hearing "When She Loved Me" for the first time, describing herself as "a sucker" for sad, melancholy songs. Newman's performance on the demo reminded McLachlan of "Bein' Green", a song originally performed by American puppeteer Jim Henson as the Muppet Kermit the Frog. Despite not knowing how children would react to the song, McLachlan felt confident that mothers would "be bawling their eyes out" upon hearing it for the first time. McLachlan found the process of recording a song for an animated film to be different than what she had grown accustomed to as a recording artist owing to the number of people involved in the project recording with Newman. Newman and McLachlan recorded approximately 17 takes of the song before finally deciding upon a few with which they were satisfied. Newman and McLachlan produced the song together, the former of whom also arranged and orchestrated the ballad. Both Newman's piano accompaniment and McLachlan's vocals were recorded by producer Greg Reely at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. References Category:Randy Newman songs Category:1990s ballads Category:Songs written by Randy Newman Category:Pixar songs Category:1999 songs Category:Pop ballads Category:Bridgit Mendler songs Category:Sarah McLachlan songs Category:Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media Category:Songs about friendship Category:Songs about heartache Category:Disney songs Category:Torch songs